Celia Walden finds herself constantly astonished by the New Age educators in
Hollywood

A peace corner?’ I repeat slowly. ‘I’m not sure they have one of those.’ I’m just happy that my daughter has got into our pre-school of choice – and that we don’t have to send her to the Center for Early Materialism with all those celebrity sprogs in West Hollywood. But Adriana – my one ‘mom’ friend out here – wants to know if my daughter’s pre-school has a ‘mindful meditation program’.

Mindfulness – a stress-relieving technique that trains the mind to focus on the present – isn’t only for kaftan-wearing adults and frazzled executives any more. These days it’s also for toddlers too young to say the word. ‘We are mindful and heartful,’ children across California chant from kindergarten upwards. Alongside ‘meditation blocks of 15 to 20 minutes’ my daughter would be taught how to notice ‘what is happening at that moment without judgment’ and encouraged to use ‘peace corners’ – spots with cushions, pine cones, shells, books and a pair of headphones to block out classroom noise – as havens in which to ‘take five’ when feeling overwhelmed. And, of course, there’s a huge emphasis on ‘mindful eating’. When apples are passed around in class, these emotionally sophisticated smurfs will be encouraged to raise their hands and make comments such as, ‘It smells juicy and apple-y,’ and, ‘I see tiny little white spots.’

I’m constantly astonished by the New Age educators here – and back home, where, I gather, they too are latching on to ‘mindfulness’. Rather than teach children something they don’t know, they teach them something they instinctively do know. Children don’t need to be taught to be children. When my two-year-old daughter picks up one half of a kiwi fruit, she will quite naturally run her finger over its furry skin and marvel at the constellation of purple seeds within before sticking the tip of her index into this curious, anemone-like object to check out its consistency. She doesn’t need to be encouraged to do this. It’s we testy, attention-deficit-afflicted adults who need to be encouraged to remember how good a chance whiff of mimosa smells and how soft a patch of hypoallergenic fake grass can feel beneath bare feet. It’s we who need to relearn how to live. Urged on by the mindful zeitgeist, that’s exactly what my husband and I are striving to do. Which is why when we pick up our i-tablets we take the time to feel the reassuring warmth of technology against our palms, and that’s all the peace corner we need.